A bilateral laproscopic inguinal hernia repair was today's menue item, and most delicious it was.
Or rather, I'm sore as all hell, can't stand up straight and I'm still pretty woozy from the anesthesia.
The hernias have been a thorn in my side for the best part of three years now and let me tell you, I am extremely happy to have them fixed at last.
The last year has been one where standing for more than an hour or two at a time became quite painful which has made it hard to work or do much of anything at full capacity.
I'm proud that I've been able to stay in as good shape as I have during that time, but I'm really excited to be able to start exercising again the way I used to and get back to a good level of fitness.
The reason it's taken so long to ge them fixed is that the first one happened just after I was laid off from my last employer before Lastwear become my full time career and the other started to become a problem last year. It's only in the last to months that I've finally been able to afford health insurance and get them fixed.
If you're wondering about how I got my insurance to cove a "pre-existing" condition, it was by assiduously avoiding any medical care since October 2010. It's only pre-existing if it's been diagnosed by a medical professional so I've gotten by the good old British way.
Stiff upper lip, mustn't grumble and all that.
Of course, back in blighty we have the NHS too so in hindsight, this is perhaps not the recomended approach...
The surgery itself was super easy, at least from my point of view.
I checked in at noon to the outpatient surgical center of Northwest Hospital where the staff were all extremely pleasant. After initial confusion on the part of those staff members who had never met me before (my ID and insurance are still under my legal name of"Thomas" and I really need a new photo ID because that guy looks nothing like me) everyone was great about calling me Rowan and I was gendered correctly throughout the whole experience.
If you never get mis-gendered it's perhaps a little hard to understand just how much of a difference this sort of thing makes. Having to show people my ID always kind of sucks because it means there is the now the possibility that someone will call me he of him when just a minute earlier they had been under the impression that I'm a biological woman.
So to have everyone get it right, every time, both when speaking to me directly or referring to me to someone else really made my day.
After getting off to a lat start, I was bundled in warm blanket, given fuzzy booties, set up with an IV and made ready for anesthesia.
Dr. Perrin, who is my surgeon and a delightfully funny lady, arrives and reviews the procedure with me a final time and gives me my post surgical care instructions. Dr. Perrin comes very highly recommended according to Seattle Met and I am inclined to agree with their assessment.
I'm actually kind of surprised at how calm I am even at this point as I'm hardly feeling at all nervous.
Next the anesthesiologist arrives, my memory goes something like this.
"Hi, I'm Doctor Nguyen. I just have to ask you a few questions you've already answered twice today and then we'll get you started ok?"
We go through the list of when I last ate or had fluids, whether I've become allergic to anything new in the last 20 minutes and do I have someone to drive me home.
"Ok" she say "I'll be giving you two drugs, the first one is the "I dont give a shit drug" and the second is the anesthetic"
I have time to think "this lady is awesome" and I'm out.
After I wake up I don't quite remember getting from the operating table to the wheelchair and back to my room but I dimly recall this happening. I'm given apple sauce (my gluten free option) grape juice two 5mg oxycodone and a squirt of dilaudid via IV. I then get to sit around until I need to pee because they want to be sure I can still do that before I'm allowed to leave. After about an hour I manage to go,which is quite a relief. It's also slightly amusing as it's now six thirty and this means it's the longest I've gone without peeing since I started taking Spiro. Having to pee all the bloody time is something we trans*girls do even better than cis*girls.
I decide to dodge home and the daughterling for a few hours and go relax at my parents place for a bit. Besides, they have a reclining armchair which I lack at home and I don't feel like lying down in bed with Saxa crawling all over me just yet. 18mo old's do not make terribly good care givers no matter how happy they are to see you.
So now I'm back home, re-dosed with oxies and clear headed enough to write what I hope is a coherent post. I'm anticipating a nice speedy recovery and it's nice to know i'll be fully active by the time we reach summer.
The one thing that I know will be really hard is that I'm not allowed to lift anything over 20lbs which means I can't pick up my daughter which makes me very sad. We'll manage though, and there will be snuggles aplenty to make up for it.
There you go, that's my report, I'm still alive and should soon be better than ever.
Wishing you all good health for 2013
Ro.
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